Building your confidence and self esteem is an ongoing process, and once you get there (wherever “there” is), it’s no reason to stop.

We live in an ever-changing world, and it’s important and essential to keep working on yourself – forever!

I’ve recently become involved in a business opportunity where the company insists that daily personal development activities are essential for anybody wanting to achieve success. I agree!

With that in mind, I try to read for at least 15 minutes to half an hour every day. I also listen daily to CDs which I’ve copied onto my phone, on personal development topics. When I run out of CDs to listen to, I listen to them again!

It’s funny how many things you missed the first time!

Getting into the habit of doing these things does several things, but most importantly, it keeps you feeling positive and focused on where you want to go.

If you can’t afford books or CDs, look for personal development topics online. Websites such as this one are a great start, and as you grow personally, you’ll probably find that your finances do to – and then you can start buying those books and CDs!

Have a great day!

And do you want to know why?  The reason why today is going to be a wonderful day is because I have decided that it will be!

If you wake up feeling bad and thinking your day is going to be terrible, then guess what?  It will be!

Now why would you choose to have a bad day?  That’s what you’re doing when you start thinking you will…

So if you find yourself thinking about your day in a negative way, stop yourself and look for the positives.  I think I’ve said it before that no matter how bad a situation can be, and as hard as it is to see it, something positive can come out of almost every situation.

For example, have you ever watched the TV show The Gift?  I was crying during one particular episode (like I do when I watch these types of things!) where the parents had lost their 15 year old daughter in a serious car accident.  It wasn’t hard to imagine the devastation her poor parents felt at the time.

They had decided to donate their daughter’s organs in the hope that another child’s life could be saved.

And that’s exactly what happened.

The first girl to receive one of the donated organs was facing death due to I think it was a diseased kidney or liver.  She was literally on death’s doorstep, but thanks to the 15 year old girl’s donated organs, she was saved and went on to live a happy, normal life.

I suppose things are very different in the US because this girl was able to meet the parents of the 15 year old to thank them in person (you can’t do that here I don’t believe).  So imagine how they felt meeting this young girl who had been literally saved by their daughter, and a part of her lived inside this girl!  Wow!

They all actually became quite close, and it was a beautiful story.  The parents were just so happy that their daughter’s life hadn’t been for nothing – she had actually saved three other people with her donated organs, all of which they had the pleasure of meeting.

So while the devastation of losing their daughter was probably the worst experience a parent could ever imagine, it had a very very happy ending – three times over!

Nothing will take away the pain of losing their daughter, but they knew she would never come back so took a lot of comfort in knowing that three other lives were saved as a result.

So the next time you wake up all crabby, think about this family and feel grateful for the good you have in your life because there is always somebody else who would give anything to be in your shoes, because it’s a hell of a lot better there than in their own lives…

Life has its challenges, and more often than not you probably find yourself wondering what you should do when faced with one of them. You will find yourself in situations you don’t like, and believe it or not, you will ALWAYS have a choice about what to do about it.

When working out what to do, you first need to determine if you have control over the situation.

For example, if your partner left you for somebody else, you have no control over that. Your partner made their choice and although you may have been part of the reason why they left, you can’t change the past. You have no control over this situtation, but you DO have choices:

1. You can curl up in the fetal position and rock uncontrollably under the dining table, vowing to NEVER love anybody ever again.
2. You can accept your ex partner’s decision, learn from the experience, and get out there and enjoy life with the hope that you’ll meet someone MUCH better!

Other situations you may not have control over are:

• Your job becomes redundant – your choice here is to get upset about it and start worrying about your finances (this won’t help anybody), or you can look at this as an opportunity to find another job and possibly improve your financial situation.
• Someone close to you has died – you can choose to be miserable for months and months (or even years) afterwards, or you can choose to focus on the good times you had with this person. If they died from a disease such as cancer (as an example), then as a tribute to this person, you could get involved with raising money for cancer research, or join a support group and help others through the grieving process when a loved one dies.

On the other hand, what if you’re in a situation you CAN control?

So for example, you’re in a bad relationship. Your partner treats you badly, possibly verbally (or even physically) abuses you, and you hate that you’re in this situation.

In this situation you DO have control over the situation (believe it or not!), and you have three choices:

1. Do nothing – and your situation will remain the same (or possibly get worse)
2. Choose to stay, but also seek counselling (and/or other help) with or without your partner so that the negatives of your relationship can be turned around.
3. You can leave. This choice is the hardest to make because it creates the biggest change.

Other situations you have control over could be:

• You hate your hair – you can keep hating your hair, or you can go to the hairdresser to get a new style
• You are overweight – you can choose to keep eating bad foods and not exercising, or you can choose to eat healthy, start exercising and even hire a personal trainer.

So as you can see, there are choices to be made in any situation. Even choosing to do nothing is a choice.

The next time you find yourself talking negatively about your situation, stop and think about what you can control, and what your choices could be. Then act on them!

The only way to improve your life is to change for the better what you can control, and respond differently to what you can’t control.

It sounds simple because it is!

Are you feeling down right now? Are you so caught up in negative thoughts that you really just don’t see anything to be happy about in your life right now?

Sometimes we get so caught up in what we’re not happy about in our lives that we forget just how much we have to be grateful for. And sometimes we feel like we’re getting some sort of “payoff” for feeling awful. For example, if you’re feeling miserable, it’s easy to connect with other miserable people.

You and your miserable friends can then hang out and be miserable together – but at least you have friends, right?

So getting yourself out of his negative mindset is hard. And you’ve got to WANT to do it!

So here’s how I turn my mood around when I’m feeling down:

1. I try to remember what it feels like to be really happy. I try to internally feel those feelings.
2. I think about other people’s situations and how they are so much worse than mine (eg. people in third world countries, people who have lost their entire families in tragedies etc).
3. I dig out my gratitude journal and I write down at least five things I am grateful for right now. I even have a grateful journal app on my iPhone, so I really have no excuses not to do this!
4. I try to feel that feeling of gratitude and happiness as I write each statement. I read them back to myself to remind myself of how lucky I am.
5. In my gratitude journal I also write what I am grateful for in the future – as if I’m already there. For example, I say how happy and grateful I am for the opportunity to help thousands of women all over the world to totally transform their lives.

You may not feel like digging out that gratitude journal right now, but force yourself. Remember how good it feels to be happy and talk yourself into wanting to feel that way again!

Today I came across a book in a department store, called “Flood Horror & Tragedy” which portrayed several stories and photos of the events which surrounded the floods here in Queensland Australia where I live, in January 2011.

My first impression of this book when I saw the cover, was HUH??? Here we are, supposedly spreading Christmas cheer, and a book like this is supposed to do that?? I think NOT!

Now I must start off by acknowledging the fact that 100% of the publisher’s profits will be donated to various charities, which of course is a good thing.

Another positive, is that according to the book’s website, it contains stories of courage and the will to survive. That’s great!

So why the awful title? Why is the focus on the horror and not on the beauty of human nature???

Unfortunately, it’s often human nature to choose a book titled “Flood Horror & Tragedy” over something like “Amazing courage” or “The Will to Survive”, which I find very disturbing and sad. Why isn’t there more focus in this world on the GOOD things???

It’s because of the title of this book that I refuse to buy it – I don’t want something that portrays such negativity sitting on my bookshelf. Every time I look at it and read the title, I’m feeding myself negative words! Give me something uplifting and positive any day!

What are you feeding your mind on a daily basis? Positive things or negative things??